To wonder why hankies haven't made a comeback?

[Eestar]

The world is so eco friendly and waste conscious now... plastic straws are out with the dinosaurs, light bulbs have completely changed since my childhood, and using plastic bags seems almost punishable by law... Some of my braver friends have even embraced cloth nappies.

With all of this in mind, using single-use paper tissues just to blow your nose seems such a waste, with an easy and obvious solution - so why are hankies not more of a 'thing' by now??

Shouldn’t he work out why he has a permanent runny nose

Hankies are gross

Hankies are gross. Having to reuse and carry a snotty hanky all day vs using a tissue once and throwing it away is a no trainer for me.

Yeah, that's still gross :/

I always have a men's cotton hankerchief (ladies' hankies are too small to be useful!) on my person - I was a Brownie / Girl Guide and it was drilled into me from an early age!

Can be used to treat wounds, tie things together, act as an impromptu napkin and so on: not just for noses!

I do use disposable tissues if I have a bad cold for reasons of hygiene and economy, but unless you're drowning in snot, using a cotton hankerchief occasionally and keeping it in your pocket isn't going to unleash an epidemic.

(I'm fascinated by the PP who said putting them in the washing machine would be 'disgusting' - what does she think washing machines do and what is actually suitable for their delicate insides?)

Do you have kids? If so, what do you do when they’ve had a toileting accident or just, you know, a day of wearing clothes? Burn the lot?

Handkerchiefs are the adult version of baby muslins. When any of us are particularly hayfevery, we grab one of the muslins instead.

I use them. Ebay has some pretty ones. Various reasons I prefer them not least no longer having to pick bits of tissue out of clothes when I'd forgotten I'd left a tissue in my pocket! I have an almost permanently runny nose, from doing a lot of exercise I think but maybe other unidentified reasons. I wouldn't say It's 'snot', it is more like spittle. I don't find it so disgusting and they're handy to have.

Wasn’t addressed to me, but when mine were little and had toilet on clothes, I would soak the affected clothes in a nappy bucket with napisan for 24 hours. Then it could go in the washing machine. I didn’t shove them in my pockets or up my sleeves and walk around like that for a day.

Because they are absolutely, utterly vile. Seeing someone get a filthy snot covered rag out of their pocket makes me want to vomit.

I'm going to say you are not being unreasonable.

Given what happens inside children and adults underwear, which we do not dispose of every night, I think the gross objection doesn't really work. blood, farts, piss, shit, and it all goes through the wash.

I still use them. Much better for the environment.

I don't tend to carry them around with me, just use them in the house for the most part.

Well I use the same tissue multiple times 😂 I always have an old used tissue shoved in my coat pocket somewhere. Do people really wipe their nose once on a tissue and then throw it in the bin?

Most tissues are sustainably produced. It takes less energy to use tissues than it does to manufacture handkerchiefs and wash them at a hygienic 60 degrees C.

Also - yuk!

If you're using the underwear analogy a better comparison would be if you kept a pair of used knickers in your pocket all day, frequently getting them out to hold them and wipe your privates with them, then touched handles and other things that other people have to touch.

Err. Yes.

Do you carry your underwear in your pocket, wipe yourself with it, then put it back in your pocket for the rest of the day? And re-use it when you next go to the toilet? If not, it's hardly a fair comparison.

Who the hell uses underwear to wipe their face

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@faerietales right back at you

Because I didn’t have any in the house when this started and was too unwell to go and get any. By the time I got tissues my nose was already sore!

I find them absolutely repulsive. I genuinely could not be in a relationship with someone who carried a snotty rag around with them, the sight of them makes me want to hurl. I also don't carry snotty tissues around, I throw them in the bin after using them.

I’ve never stopped using them

but @Gymly nailed it - people think paper waste is fine for some reason.

This is Mumsnet. Where (if you believe the comments) people wash towels after every use and use a brand new kitchen sponge every time they do the dishes.

My dad used them, took one to the office every day and I remember my mum ironing them every week! Sod that. He's 80 now and I'm sure he still has them but I haven't seen them for years.

As kids we used to take them to use when we had a cold as they were softer than tissues if you had a sore nose. Or would use them at night to put a few drops of Karvol on - who remembers that?!

The horrible smell of my Mum boil washing hankies in a pot on the cooker when I was a little kid in the 70s was 🤮. And having a cold at school and having to use the same a soaking wet hanky all day. They are full of germs and disgusting.